The field of the present invention is antidive devices employed with small vehicles to prevent a dipping of the front of the vehicle under braking.
Small vehicles such as motorcycles, motor tricycles and the like typically employ a telescopic front fork assembly with each side including a fork pipe and a bottom case which are mutually slidable in the axial direction as a means for resiliently supporting a front wheel. Under braking, the inertia of the vehicle acts to create forces which cause the front fork to compress and the vehicle to dip or sink. This phenomenon has been recognized and various types of antidive devices have been proposed.
A prior device employed to address the diving phenomenon of such vehicles is described in Japanese Laid Open patent publication No. 58-49587. In this device, brake calipers are supported by a caliper supporting bracket which is rotatably mounted to the front axle and positioned behind the front fork. A portion of the supporting bracket extends forwardly of the front axle. On one of the bottom cases of the front fork, a stay projects forwardly. An L-shaped arm member is pivotally supported by the stay at the intersection of the arms. One of the arms extends downwardly from the pivot adjacent the lower case and is connected to an actuator of a contraction motion regulating apparatus. The other arm of the L-shaped arm member projects forwardly to a rod pinned thereto. The rod is also connected at its other end to the caliper supporting bracket projecting forwardly of the wheel axle. Under braking, a reaction torque acting on the calipers is transmitted to the actuator through the link mechanism consisting of the rod and the L-shaped arm member. The aforementioned antidive apparatus is shown to include a plurality of link members, is relatively complicated and results in relatively high manufacturing costs.